Our Golfer-in-Chief

President Obama has now returned from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation. It’s possible that no other president has ever been criticized so much for devotion to a vacation. While the Middle East literally goes up in flames and an American journalist is beheaded, the president seemed more intent on perfecting his golf game than anything else. One photoshop making the rounds puts a spotlight on the criticisms:

The critique hasn’t been one-sided; it’s not emanating from Republicans only. Members of his own party are distressed over what they call the “optics” of his apparent disinterest in affairs of state. When even some of the late-night comedians start making fun of him, you know he may have turned a corner.

His defenders will point out that other presidents, Dwight Eisenhower in particular, played a lot of golf. That’s true. Ike popularized golfing for the middle class, which turned to the game in greater numbers due to that president’s participation. But the comparison stops there. Who was Eisenhower? Only the successful military general who carrried out D-Day and oversaw the fall of Hitler. He was a man who knew both war and peace and how to get a job done. As president, regardless of how much golf he played, he always maintained his control of the government through proper delegation. No one really questioned his competence.

Not so with the current occupant of the White House, who has no military experience and who has demonstrated, time and again, an astounding capacity for incompetence. He did drag himself away from the golf course a couple of times to make statements, but they were largely devoid of substance.

His statement on the Foley beheading used all the right words, but where was his heart? He went directly from that statement back to the golf course:

This is our commander in chief. This is the one who is supposed to lead us through the minefield of foreign policy with insight and determination. Yet what percentage of Americans believes he has a firm grasp on the threats to the nation? Where will his foreign policy lead us?

Pray for God’s mercy on us. I don’t say that as some kind of catchy ending to this post. I mean it. We are in great need of the mercy of God if we are to survive as a people.